The Bombay High Court on Tuesday has directed Correctional Home authorities to open a bank account and to provide all particulars for facilitating deposits on their website and once deposits are made by the family members/ relatives of any inmate in such bank account, the same shall be utilized in a manner that benefits him, according to law.
The Court direction came following a grievance raised by Mr. Desai that the system of transmitting money, by money orders having been discontinued for the present, the family members/relatives of the inmates of the Correctional Homes are no longer in a position to provide money to them for purchase of essentials from the canteens of the Correctional Homes and, therefore, separate bank accounts for all the inmates ought to be opened where deposits can be made by such family members/relatives of the inmates.
Learned public prosecutor Mr. Thakare has invited attention of Court to a circular dated April 8, 2020 which provides that the Jailor shall open a bank account and provide all particulars for facilitating deposits.
The Court said, “Having read such circular, we direct the Correctional Homes authorities to implement the instruction therein immediately. The bank account number as well as all other requisite particulars for transfer of money shall be displayed by the Correctional Homes authorities on their website for information of all concerned.”
On the grievance of the petitioner’s counsel that although the State has taken steps to bring down the number of inmates by following the guidelines issued by the High Powered Committee, 14,000 + bail applications are pending before diverse criminal courts and keeping such large number of applications pending tends to frustrate the purpose for which the High Powered Committee came to be constituted in terms of the Supreme Court’s order, the Bombay High Court held that :-
“Even though the High-Powered Committee has delineated categories of under-trial prisoners who would be entitled to release on interim bail, we are of the opinion that the relevant courts are not supposed to act as mere post-offices and allow applications without application of mind”.
“We have no doubt in our mind that in the light of the guidelines issued by the High Powered Committee, the relevant courts, to the best of its ability and with the resources available at its disposal, have seen striving to take appropriate steps to dispose of as many applications for bail as possible in accordance with law and in the light of the guidelines of the High Powered Committee. No direction as such is required to be made, since we hope and trust that no application for bail shall be kept pending unnecessarily”.
A Division bench of Bombay High Court led by the Chief Justice, Dipankar Datta and Justice K.K. Tated heard two PILs, whereby several grievances were raised by the petitioner’s Counsel Mr. Desai.
The learned Counsel for the petitioners contended before the court that 158 inmates of Arthur Road Correctional Home have tested positive for Covid-19 and since the spread of Covid-19 is by way of transmission from one to the other, there is an imminent need to have other inmates of the Correctional Home, who might have come into contact with the Covid-19 positive inmates, tested, so as to prevent further spread of the infection.
The petitioner’s counsel prayed that although family members/relatives of inmates of Correctional Homes other than Arthur Road Correctional Home are being informed of a particular inmate having been infected by the virus, there is no system of informing the family members/relatives of Covid positive inmates of Arthur Road Correctional Home. On which the public prosecutor had said before the High Court that “the family members/relatives of the inmates of Arthur Road Correctional Home, who have tested positive, would be duly informed”.
Later, he also prayed that the Correctional Home authorities may be directed to ensure that each inmate can at least establish contact with his/her family members/relatives through two phone calls per week.
The High Court on the above issue said that However, having regard to the uncertainties of connectivity, an additional facility of allowing the inmates to reach out to their family members/relatives by making phone calls could be allowed till such time Video Conferencing facilities are commissioned and even thereafter, if there is lack of connectivity. The number of phone calls per week per inmate, the duration of the phone calls and the days on which the same may be allowed are left entirely to the discretion of the Correctional Home authorities.
The Court has adjourned the matter for two weeks.
-India Legal Bureau